A populist uprising greets the never-say-win Dems

More Senators Announce Opposition to Alito
More Senators have announced their opposition to Samuel Alito for the Supreme Court. Encouragingly, no additional Democrats have announced support for Alito since Ben Nelson (NE).
Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL), the Democratic Whip, announced his opposition to a packed auditorium at Northwestern University School of Law. "In the record, the writings, the words, and the life of Samuel Alito, I searched for evidence of his caring heart -- evidence that for the next two or three decades he would use his position on the Supreme Court to enlarge our freedom, protect our privacy, and respect the delicate balance of power and responsibility our Constitution creates," said Senator Durbin. "At the end of the day, at this historic moment, I cannot say with confidence that Samuel Alito meets that test."
Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), in announcing his opposition, said, "Based on his record, I am gravely concerned that Judge Alito does not believe the Congress has the authority to protect the fundamental rights of all Americans."
Other Senators who have announced publicly their opposition to Alito include Patrick Leahy (D-VT) (the Ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) (the only woman on the Judiciary Committee), Ted Kennedy (D-MA), Ken Salazar (D-CO), and Max Baucus (D-MT). Senators Leahy, Baucus, and Salazar all voted for John Roberts in September.
GET THE INSIDE SCOOP with The Smeal Report and the New Leif blogs at MsMagazine.com
TAKE ACTION Call your Senators and urge them to oppose Alito
DONATE Make an emergency contribution to the Feminist Majority's Save Roe Campaign. We must be a strong voice in this crucial fight to save Roe and the Supreme Court for women's rights.
Media Resources: Harkin statement 1/19/06; Durbin statement 1/19/06; Feminist Majority

The above is from the Feminist Wire and if it's not one of the most linked to items, you can't say this community didn't do their part. Throughout the country, people stood up and did their part and then some. It was a "done deal" by the time last week's edition was done. That's when various "strong" Senators (on the Democratic side of the aisle) took to the Sunday chat & chews to throw in the towel.

Oh, it's over. Let the Republicans play like their Starship and sing "Nothing's Gonna' Stop Us Now." That was the message in simplest form.

And they must have thought the people were simple as well. That we'd respond with, "Oh well if Dianne Feinstein's so sure that just because she disagrees with Alito fundamentally on every issue doesn't mean he shouldn't serve on the bench, then we're okay with it."

Feinstein's San Francisco office, Friday, was the site of protest demanding that she filibuster Alito. We doubt she still feels so sanguine. (We could be wrong.)

An amazing thing happened this past week. Democrats who have lost their spine said "Nothing to see here, move on." It was the same message too many of them use when asked why they won't speak out against the war. It was the same message that too many of them told us following election 2004. After all the promises that, unlike 2000, they would fight, fight for the victory, for the fight for the voter, they would fight, fight like never before . . .

They knew there were problems with the Ohio vote yet before it could be looked into, the presidential candidate was throwing in the towel and our "brave" Democratic officials were telling us it was for the best.

They're real fond of talking big ahead of elections and then, afterwards, all the big talk fades and words like "realistic" get tossed around. Funny how "realism" never enters the picture while their fundraising.

So they trotted out the same message yet again and this time the public refused to be played for suckers.

Nothing to do, move along? Well if there's nothing to do, why the hell have we been working for your campaigns, giving you donations, showing up to vote for you?

If there's nothing to be done, exactly why do we waste our time with you?

The Democrats hadn't counted on the anger of the people. You can be sure of that. With Republicans scandals in the headlines, they were hoping for an easy lap to victory in this fall's elections. Only now, golly gee, those mean voters weren't playing along.

They seemed surprised early in the week when "people power" started demanding that maybe they actually work for the people. They seemed surprised that working for us meant more than providing soundbytes on the chat & chews.

The people forced this. There's still work to be done to force a filibuster.

But the people took a "done deal" and undid it.

Whether Alito gets confirmed or not, the people rose up.

We think it goes to the summer of protest. Time and again, we stood up to the Bully Boy following Cindy Sheehan's brave example. Along the way, Sheehan's been asking us to stand up to Democrats who continue to support the disaster of the invasion/occupation. Maybe her words are finally sinking in?

For the first time, the Democrats saw large numbers of their own voters demand action. They better get used to that because, regardless of how the Alito vote goes, the easy ride's over. You want to represent us? Start doing it.

The same energy and drive that's been poured into protesting the Bully Boy came back to smack the Democrats in their spineless backs. That's people power.

You can ask and be ignored for only so long. The people got angry, they got motivated and they demanded some action. This was a powerful moment in democracy.

But it's not over yet. We need to keep the pressure on. If you care about civil rights, civil liberties, reproductive rights, human rights, the Constitution, then Alito is not the Supreme Court Justice for you and you need to make yourself heard loud and clear.

As Laura Flanders noted on Saturday's RadioNation with Laura Flanders, "Friend don't let friends fail on the filibuster." Demand it. Demand action. Demand accountability. Don't go hat in hand begging for your representatives to work for you.

That's what they're supposed to do, work for you. But some have been in DC so long, they seem to have forgotten who exactly sent them there. It wasn't corporate lobbyists. It was the people. And they need to start doing the people's business.

Laura Flanders also noted in another segment that women are tired of being shut out and they're tired of candidates who toss a few morsels about abortion rights their way in a campaign and then lose their will to fight. "Issues like choice are raised . . . and then forgotten," she said.

Consider the choice issue where Democratic voters can draw a line that tells the Democratic Party that it's either with us or it's not. It's really quite simple. We've seen the Party back away from the unions, back away from African-American voters, back away from most of what it's supposed to stand for. If it throws in the towel on reproductive rights, it might as well just admit it's joined at the hip to the Republican Party.

Voters want clear differences and clear choices. Let's make the Alito vote a line in the sand where Democratic leaders have to either support the people or own up to the fact that they're happy to take our monies and grab our votes but they really don't like to be associated with us.
Part of the reason for the mess we're in is our own fault.

We've failed to pressure the Democratic Party to return to the base.

It's time they rediscovered their concerns about poverty and health care, time they rediscovered the support for unions, time they realized that African-American voters deserved more than a campaign photo op (usually at a church).

The Democratic Party needs to start serving the Democratic base. It's that simple. To us. If it's hard for them, they need to let us know so we can work on getting new representatives into office, ones who'll fight for us and for what we believe in.